Following on from their blistering debut album, This War Will Last Forever, Scottish metallers Mendeed are playing a single warm-up show in London, in preparation for their nationwide tour with the new darlings of modern metal, Trivium.

The Dumbarton-based quintet has blended an exhilarating mix of old-school thrash and power metal with harsh vocals to bring a new perspective on the metalcore scene. The album is a polished slice of contemporary metal with hints toward an experimentation outside of their known boundaries but when played live, the songs take a much more ferocious turn. Most of the melody appears to have left the building but does seem to have been replaced with a welcome urgency and bile.

Tonight, their call-to-arms choruses and precise musicianship are played immaculately with livewire bassist, Chris Lavery a focal point throughout. Indeed the mohicaned madman is a constant threat to the health of his bandmates as he swings his guitar and himself around the stage with no fear and much vigour. It is vocalist Dave Proctor that is required to scream his way around Lavery’s antics as well as whip the crowd up into a fitting frenzy and he succeeds with ease.

With the familiar tones of high-speed kick-drums a near constant feature of the set, subtlety is not something that these chaps deal in too much. Add a strong selection of carefully orchestrated riffs to the bludgeoned basslines and you’ll understand what these well-rehearsed bruisers are all about.

While Mendeed hardly try turn the metalcore genre on its head, they have proven that they are keen freshen up the scene and test a few unknown waters. If they keep bringing this sort of talent to the fore more frequently you may well hear a whole lot more from Mendeed in years to come.